The turnover of the supermarket giant Walmart thus increased by 2.4%, to 141.6 billion dollars, from February to April.

But in the United States, its customers have bought fewer non-food goods, which the group attributes in part to the end of the exceptional aid paid by the government during the pandemic.

For Neil Saunders, from Global Data, this drop is also linked to the fact that Walmart's core customers "tend to be more sensitive to price changes and have been more affected by high inflation", which remains close in April. its highest level in 40 years.

Spending on food, on the other hand, increased.

With inflation, "more consumers have turned to Walmart to limit their spending," says Saunders.

The group's chief financial officer, Brett Biggs, pointed out on a conference call that behaviors varied widely.

A man in a supermarket in Annapolis (Maryland) on May 16, 2022 Jim WATSON AFP

The group thus sold more than certain fairly expensive items, such as consoles, garden furniture or barbecues.

But at the same time, some consumers have turned more to less expensive private labels for items such as meat or dairy products.

As for the DIY and household goods chain Home Depot, which had benefited a lot from the propensity of Americans to want to improve their housing during the confinements, it remains in good health, and its turnover has increased by another 4%. from February to April, at $38.9 billion.

A sign, however, that inflation has passed by, the number of transactions carried out in its stores fell by 8%, but the average amount spent by customers increased by 11%.

More generally, the Commerce Department reported retail sales up 0.9% in April compared to March, and 8.2% compared to April 2021. An annual increase in fact close to that of prices consumption, 8.3% over one year.

'Soft landing'

Looking ahead, "consumers' tolerance for high inflation will continue to be tested and the renewed spike in gasoline prices, combined with tighter financial conditions, will weigh on households' willingness to spend on big-ticket items," said Lydia Boussour, an economist for Oxford Economics.

“But strong fundamentals, including robust labor income growth and a buildup of accumulated savings, will continue to support consumer spending,” she adds.

In the meantime, the all-out price rise is weighing on the profits of Walmart, whose share price fell by more than 8% in the first exchanges on Wall Street.

The chain's net profit fell 25% to $2.05 billion, and the company lowered its full-year profit forecast.

A Walmart store in Washington, August 18, 2020 NICHOLAS KAMM AFP

This result is "disappointing", acknowledged the group's managing director, Doug McMillon, attributing, among other things, the decline in profits to salary expenses.

“We had hired more employees at the end of last year to replace those who were on sick leave” but with the drop in Covid cases in February, “we found ourselves for several weeks with more employees than necessary “, he explained.

With the decline in sales of non-food goods, the group's stocks have also increased significantly and the group has had to spend more to store them.

And its fuel expenses to transport the products have also increased.

At Home Depot, net profit (+2%) also grew a little more slowly than sales, but the group slightly raised its sales forecast for the year and the share price rose by more than 2%.

“We are entering a slightly more difficult period for distribution” but “the landing seems to be smooth, at least on the demand side”, remarks Neil Saunder.

"The biggest challenge for retail chains now is going to be balancing lower sales volume with higher costs," he said.

© 2022 AFP